OT - The time a Hall of Fame football coach invited a Syracuse nun to the Super Bowl

[shandeezy7]

Cool nostalgic lookback piece on Syracuse.com about the unlikely friendship between Hall of Fame Miami Dolphins Head Coach Don Shula and Sister Virginia Kenefick, a Franciscan nun in Syracuse.

The time a Hall of Fame football coach invited a Syracuse nun to the Super Bowl

The story behind the warm friendship between Sister Virginia of Syracuse and legendary coach Don Shula.

www.syracuse.com

A quick personal story - Sister Virginia was a teacher of mine in 7th, 8th and 9th grades at Bishop Grimes. I distinctly remember her telling us a story in class one day about how she was close friends with Don Shula and Bob Griese. Being idiot teenagers, I remember my friends and I snickering like "yeah right, sure thing, Sister; and I'm close friends with Michael Jordan."

Flash forward to the 2005 home opener. Greg Robinson's first game (ugh). West Virginia at Syracuse, nationally televised on ABC with Brad Nessler, Lynn Swann & Bob Griese on the call. I was in college at the time and it was before I had season tickets, so I was watching the game at home. Not a very exciting game, but it was close, so at least it was interesting to that extent.

So during a break in the action, the camera pans the crowd until it zooms in on a nun - Sister Virginia, of course - and Bob Griese says over the air "Hey, there's my good friend Sister Virginia!" My jaw dropped. I started messaging my high school buddies: "she was telling the truth! I can't believe it." We were dumbfounded, especially my one friend who is a huge Dolphins fan.

Anyway - I guess this story doesn't have a point other than I guess I shouldn't have assumed that a Catholic nun was a liar.

 

[orange79]

That's a really great story. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Dinkyspond]

I like Don Shula even more after reading that.

 

[shandeezy7]

I like Don Shula even more after reading that.

He always came across as a real class act. Even as a Bills fan, I never really disliked him. Dan Marino on the other hand...

 

[SUfanNC]

I believe Sister Virginia was the principle at Holy Family when I was there in my early years of elementry school. I had totally forgot until this thread. I never knew her last name but she was a big Dolphins fan. I assume it was the same one.

 

[sutomcat]

I like Don Shula even more after reading that.

Shula played college football at John Carroll. They played Syracuse in 1950. I believe that was Ben’s first year coaching at Syracuse, and the program was just starting to get rebuilt.

Carroll won. Shula was a star. He says it was a key towards getting his football career going.

Of course, he also had Csonka and Schwedes on some of his teams. Lots of Syracuse connections in his life.

Don Shula recalls defeating SU in 1950

Mike Greenlar / The Post-StandardFormer Miami Dolphins coach Don Shula talks about the size of Larry Csonka's hands and how they could cover a football at a news conference in Syracuse on Wednesday. NFL Hall of Fame football coach Don...

www.syracuse.com

Don Shula helped John Carroll beat Syracuse on lakefront 70 years ago

It could be argued the biggest win in the history of John Carroll football occurred Nov. 12, 2016, when the visiting Blue Streaks stunned No. 1-ranked Mount Union, 31-28.

www.news-herald.com

 

[shandeezy7]

I believe Sister Virginia was the principle at Holy Family when I was there in my early years of elementry school. I had totally forgot until this thread. I never knew her last name but she was a big Dolphins fan. I assume it was the same one.

Yep, that's correct. In addition to her teaching days at BG, she was Principal of Holy Family, Vice Principal of St. Rose of Lima and a Teacher at Holy Cross.